Venus Williams, 46, Gets US Open Wildcard as Serena's Spot Stays Open

NEW YORK —

Venus Williams has been given a wildcard into the singles draw at the US Open, and the United States Tennis Association is holding back one more women's spot that could still go to her sister Serena, according to Sky Sports and Channel NewsAsia. The tournament's main draw begins Sunday, August 30.

Venus, 46, first played the US Open in 1997 and reached the final in her debut. She won the title in 2000 and 2001, two of her seven Grand Slam singles championships, and became the oldest singles entrant at Flushing Meadows in 44 years when she played there last year, losing in three sets to ninth seed Karolina Muchova, according to BBC Sport. She has not won a Grand Slam singles match since Wimbledon in 2021.

Her form this season has been rough. Venus has lost all ten of her singles matches in 2025 and is winless in her last 13, with her most recent victory coming in Washington last July, Yahoo Sports reported. She did not play singles at Wimbledon and has played just one Grand Slam match all year, a first-round loss to Olga Danilovic of Serbia at the Australian Open. Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion who is coming back from a foot injury, also received direct entry into the main draw, according to Channel NewsAsia.

A Doubles Reunion in Cincinnati

Serena Williams, 44, returned to tennis in June after what Sky Sports described as four years "evolving away" from the sport, and played singles at Wimbledon. She and Venus had planned to play doubles together at Wimbledon too, but withdrew after Serena hurt her knee in her first-round singles loss to Maya Joint.

The sisters finally reunited on court Monday at the Cincinnati Open, their first doubles match together since the 2022 US Open. They lost a tiebreaker thriller to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns, 2-6, 6-1 (10-8), according to ESPN, after nearly erasing a 6-0 deficit in the deciding tiebreak. "I thought it was fun. I thought it was special," Serena said afterward, according to ESPN. Venus called it "great for us to get out there and do it."

Decisions Still to Come

Whether Serena takes the open singles spot remains unclear. BBC Sport reported her comeback so far has amounted to three doubles matches and one singles match, and Cincinnati marked her first competitive appearance in seven weeks following the knee injury. Women's doubles wildcards have not yet been announced, and three spots remain in the revamped mixed doubles event starting August 24, an event that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have not ruled out despite recent injuries, according to BBC Sport.

On the men's side, Gael Monfils received a wildcard for what he has said will be his final Grand Slam tournament, alongside Alexei Popyrin. One men's wildcard also remains open, which BBC Sport reported could go to 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka, who is also retiring at year's end.